This week: Be Your Own Best Writing Buddy Edited by: Annette  
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| Hello Authors, I am Annette and I will be your guest editor for this issue. |
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Be Your Own Best Writing Buddy
I recently took part in a 24 hour assignment to unplug from all digital devices. For one day, I didn't scroll social media feeds on my smartphone. For that day, I didn't watch TV. That one day, I didn't even turn the computer on at all.
Most of us think they could do pretty much anything for a day.
If we were asked if we could eat vegan for a day. Sure, we could do that.
If a smoker were asked not to smoke for one day. Sure, they could do that.
If Robert was asked not drink beer for one day... there is a (small?) chance he could do that if we promise him a tour of all the craft breweries in the area afterward.
When I asked my fellow Writing.Com members to go without digital devices, computers, TV for a day ... NOPE ... that's not happening. Nobody, not a single person was interested in trying or even entertaining the idea. The best answer I got was from one person who said they could unplug for most of the day if they were allowed one hour. It's a start.
The one overarching theme and activity that connects all of us here on the site is writing. We write some things right here on the site into items in our portfolio, into message posts, or other forms. We also upload or copy our writing that we did outside of the site to items in our portfolio.
Obviously, the writing here on the site happens while we are on the internet. We're plugged in. Some of the things we write while plugged in can be, and often are, pretty good.
To really write a book, to map a book out, to create a first messy draft, to do a first revision and some editing for grammar and spelling, we need to have a time and space when and where we are alone. That's why there are such things as writer retreats. The truth is, very few among us will find the time to go on a full-on writer retreat. We have to carve out the time to write while also tackling day to day life. Work and family are a real thing.
What's also a real thing is social media, kitten videos, activity forums here on Writing.Com that aren't necessarily about writing. My point is that between those things that we have to do (work & family) and those things that are easy to do (scrolling down the newsfeed for jokes), we're not always our own best writing buddy.
Since getting anyone to unplug for a day isn't likely to happend, I invite you to identify some areas where your digital life keeps you from being your own best writing buddy.
Start by simply observing your internet, social media, and digital devices usage for a few days to a week. How much of that time do you spend on must-do tasks? Maybe you work over the internet (me), so that's not an amount of time you can unplug. Maybe you talk to your relatives over the internet, that's also not an amount of time that you can cut out. Maybe you have appliances that don't even work without a smartphone app anymore. Those also have to stay on, obviously.
Do you spend a lot of time scrolling through social media feeds? Maybe several times a day? Do you end your day with hours of TV until you fall asleep and don't even know what you actually watched? These are times that you can surely condense. Set a specific time in a day when you will check your social media. At a specific time and for an amount of time that you determine to be the best for your needs. If there is a show you like to watch on TV, watch that, but then turn it off. Give your mind time to process all of that input you received from those media sources.
Once you've gained some time that you cut away from digital entertainment devices, see how you'll break that time down for your use. Ideally, some of those gained minutes/hours would at least partially go toward writing creatively. That's how you can be your own best writing buddy and still tackle all of that life throws at you.
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I received the following replies to my last For Author's newsletter: "Authors are Writers First"
jonblair  sent in this item to be featured: "Who wants to write an eBook ? "
hbk16 wrote: Writing is an art and an author is an artist. The author creates unique writing pieces like a painting artist that creates unique canvases. We are inspired by our environment during the different stages of our life and we elaborate our interaction into written expressions. We are born gifted but ignorant until we learn and do endless endeavors to progress and improve our job. Our reference or our landmark is the perfection that is hard to achieve but not impossible.
Zeke wrote: When I started writing I only used handwriting because it seemed to put more of me in the story.
Zeke
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For Authors: July 08, 2020 Issue [#10256]
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